The playback of media or other human-perceptible content from multiple output devices can be problematic when the output devices are within auditory and/or visual range to each other, or more particularly a person within range of two or more of the output devices, as the person may perceive auditory and/or visual differences depending on how the output devices play or otherwise deliver the media. Temporal offsets or other perceptible variances can arise when a media player or other element generating the media at one device plays or otherwise transmits the media after or before another, nearby device in a manner sufficient to cause the resulting signaling to arrive or be experienced at the person at perceptively different times. The amount of time or offset necessary to induce the perceived variations can vary depending on reflections, wavelength and any number of other factors, such as whether the media has an auditory and/or a visual component.
The person may perceive temporal variations for auditory components differently than visual components, i.e., a certain amount of temporal offset may be unperceived for auditory components and not for visual components or vice-a-versa. A precedent effect, for example, has shown when two identical sounds are presented in close succession, such as from different output devices, they will be heard or perceived at the person as a single fused sound, i.e., a sound without echo, in the event the corresponding signals arrive at the person with a lag or temporal offset around 5 ms for less complex sounds, like clicks, and around 40 ms for more complex sounds, like speech or piano music. An undesirable echo or other variation can be perceived at the person, such as when the two signals fail to provide a fused sound, in the event the lag or temporal offset exceeds the range associated with the corresponding sound or complexity of the sound. A similar phenomenon can occur with visual signals, such as strobes, lights, lasers, video, etc., optionally with different tolerances for the lag, i.e., visually components may have shorter or longer ranges of tolerance.
One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates intelligently synchronizing media communicated from multiple output devices within auditory and/or visual range of a person so as to minimize and/or eliminate the perceived variations resulting from temporal deviations in transmission, playback and/or other influencing operations associated with the corresponding media.